Rays down on the farm September 13: Bulls forced to game five

Pawtucket's pitching staff was effective, and they limited Durham to just two early runs.  With Nate Karns now in the big leagues, Merrill Kelly gets the ball for game five after shifting from the rotation to the bullpen several times during the season.  He'll be opposed by Keith Couch, who has thrown just one inning in Triple-A in his career, and it didn't go well.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, the only way to watch this game is on MiLB.TV.

Triple-A Durham Bulls (5-3)

Durham was an out away from winning the International League, but Pawtucket tied the game in the ninth and went on to beat the Bulls 4-2 in 13 innings.  With runners on the corners and two outs in the ninth, Adam Liberatore allowed a single to Cuban import Rusney Castillo that tied the game.  In the bottom of the 10th, Cole Figueroa stole second with one out.  Mikie Mahtook singled, but Figueroa was thrown out at home to prolong the game.  Jeremy Moore singled after that.

In the 13th, Jake Thompson started his second inning of work.  He struck out Castillo for the second out with a runner on first, but that was followed by an Ivan De Jesus home run that put Pawtucket up by two.  The tying run would reach base for the Bulls in the bottom half of the inning, but they couldn't capitalize.

Mike Montgomery's outing qualified as a quality start, but it was vintage Montgomery.  He only allowed one run in six innings with six strikeouts, but he was in and out of trouble all night long, giving up three hits and six walks.  Only 53 of his 103 pitches were strikes.

After falling behind 1-0 in the first again, Durham scored both of their runs in the fourth inning.  With two runners on and one out, Mike Fontenot singled home Tim Beckham to tie the game.  Luke Maile followed that up with a double to score Nick Franklin, but on a Justin Christian ground ball to shortstop, Fontenot was thrown out at home, preventing a third run from scoring.  Christian, FIgueroa, Mahtook and Franklin all reached base twice.

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Star of the day- The Durham Bulls get one more game of that sweet, sweet concessions and merchandise cash.

Goat of the day- He only allowed one run, but Montgomery isn't exactly ending the season on a high note.

Today's game (probables courtesy of milb.com)

Durham v. Pawtucket 7:05 PM (MiLB.TV, radio stream)
Merrill Kelly (1-0, 1.50) v. Keith Couch (0-0, ---)

Game five of a best of five series (Series tied 2-2)

*Listed as TBA on milb.com

Scouting the opposition

Pawtucket Red Sox
5-2
Offense: 639 R (6th) .719 OPS (10th)
Pitching: 3.60 ERA (4th) 1.31 WHIP (6th)
Top 30 Prospects: LHP Henry Owens (2), C Blake Swihart (5), 3B Garin Cecchini (6), RHP Matt Barnes (9), RHP Anthony Ranaudo (11), SS Deven Marrero (15), OF Bryce Brentz (16), 1B Travis Shaw (26), LHP Edwin Escobar, RHP Heath Hembree